Brookhaven Retreat observed Bereavement Parents Awareness Month on July 30 with a Bereavement Walk to Remember for clients, staff members and their families on the beautifully manicured grounds of Brookhaven Retreat.
Modeled after The Compassionate Friends Walk to Remember, the highlight of the TCF National Conference held every July, the walk is a symbolic and active way for bereaved parents to demonstrate their love for their lost children. Founded 40 years ago, TCF which now has about 660 chapters, supports parents, siblings and grandparents who have suffered the loss of a loved one.
Founder of Brookhaven Retreat, Jacqueline Dawes, knows exactly what it’s like to suffer such a loss. As of August 1, she lost her daughter 17 years ago. “Loosing a child changes everything about your life forever,” she says. “It changes how you think, how you feel, how you interface in all other relationships. You are never over it, but you slowly find new ways to live with the loss and come to deeply appreciate there is nothing as valuable as life itself. The power to breathe is priceless.”
For any parent who has lost a child, the Bereavement Walk is an opportunity to release the emotions that never cease, but ease with time.
Dawes founded Brookhaven Retreat, a powerful testimony to the good that can come from pain and the strength that comes from having been broken.
“Brookhaven Retreat is unique not just became of the exquisite natural beauty of our surroundings, the outstanding clinical and professional staff or even our comprehensive, contemporary and holistic approach,” she says. “We are unique because I have lived through the issues we are now privileged to treat other women for. I helped design what I believe is one of the most effective approaches to recovery for women in the country. I know what the women who come to Brookhaven Retreat are going through, and I know the road to emotional, spiritual and physical recovery is possible. I am living proof, and if I can do it, others can too.”
